Upton Sinclair's wise words about checking the evidence

Some of the American author Upton Sinclair's wise words that resonate strongly with me have been quoted in previous articles, including, for example, one about the difficulty of getting through to people and another that contains his description of what it feels like to be used and thrown aside. 

I intended to search for more article-inspiring material from Upton SInclair at the time, but other topics intervened. I recently decided to take a further look, and I found another good quote to highlight:

"It is foolish to be convinced without evidence, but it is equally foolish to refuse to be convinced by real evidence." 

This speaks for itself. It may state the obvious, but it is very true. 

Where the proposition that unseen forces are at work in some people's lives is concerned for example, I have seen many examples of both automatic, immediate, mindless, enthusiastic acceptance of the idea and automatic, immediate, mindless, contemptuous denial and dismissal of even the possibility. 

Both types of reaction are indeed foolish; I think of these positions as two sides of the same bad coin.

It is good practice to neither believe nor disbelieve, but entertain possibilities. It is best to consider the evidence or lack of it and look at the cases for and against before making any decisions and commitments.

More wise words from Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair was just a name to me until very recently.

I now know that he produced some very insightful and inspirational material.

He could be a goldmine, so his writings are on the list to be investigated. In the meantime, a little research has found these very relevant quotations:

“I discover that hardly a week passes that someone does not start a new cult, or revive an old one; if I had a hundred life-times I could not know all the creeds and ceremonies, the services and rituals, the litanies and liturgies, the hymns...”

From The Profits of Religion: An Essay in Economic Interpretation (1918), Introductory, "Bootstrap-lifting".

He was speaking about American-style religious organisations, but his words apply to many other types of cult. There is no end to them, and many do indeed perform brain-washing ceremonies.

“He was burning with a sense of outrage. He had been tricked and made a fool of; he had been used and flung aside. And now there was nothing he could do — he was utterly helpless. What affected him most was his sense of the overwhelming magnitude of the powers which had made him their puppet; of the utter futility of the efforts that he or any other man could make against them. They were like elemental, cosmic forces; they held all the world in their grip, and a common man was as much at their mercy as a bit of chaff in a tempest.”

From Metropolis (1908)

Upton Sinclair could be speaking for many people who realise that they have been cheated, lied to and made a fool of and that there is nothing that they can do about it. They are helpless pawns; they are up against something huge, invulnerable, inexorable and remorseless.

This is a perfect description of how devastated some people feel when they realise that they have been used and destroyed by a cult or an energy vampire and there will be no justice and no compensation.

November 25th this year was the 50th anniversary of Upton Sinclair’s death.

Some further thoughts about Upton Sinclair’s proposition

The American novelist Upton Sinclair had this to say about the difficulty in getting through to people:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

The previous article expanded on this statement and listed some external factors that might be involved in addition to someone’s salary.

It is not just about employees and possible losses in the outer world: Upton Sinclair’s proposition can be applied to the inner world of many people when psychological factors are involved.

There may also be some unseen influences at work in the form of good and evil forces.

Some psychological factors

Psychological defence mechanisms may be at work in many cases where people just don’t or won’t get or accept an inconvenient, unwelcome truth. For example, we may try very hard but unsuccessfully to get through to someone that they need to take responsibility for their actions.

Upton Sinclair and the difficulty in getting through to people

The starting point for this article is the well-known proposition from the American novelist Upton Sinclair:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

While true up to a point, this seems both incomplete and partly off the mark.

In some cases there is a lot more than a salary at stake, and it may be less a matter of a man’s not understanding something than of his understanding it only too well but refusing to accept it or admit that he knows it.

If someone did accept or admit that they know and understand an inconvenient truth, they might be expected or forced to do something about it. This might entail taking a stand; it might mean the loss of their existing role and plan of action; it might mean the loss of acceptance, credibility, any chance of promotion and even their professional reputation.

Ignorance really is bliss in many cases.

Obedience and the truth: some illuminating observations

One characteristic often found in energy vampires and manipulators is that they habitually ignore essential points, central issues and fundamental truths. They are out of touch with reality.

Even if someone is able to confront them by telling them some home truths, hell will freeze over before they admit that they have done anything wrong, never mind apologising. 

They are like vampires: they cannot or will not see themselves in mirrors; the truth is like garlic to them; they avoid daylight and operate in the darkness. It is best to leave them behind in the remedial school and move ourselves on by learning some lessons that our victimisers will never learn. 

Anyone who has been controlled or preyed upon by such people may need to spend some time aligning their ideas with reality, which involves learning some new words and concepts along the way and investing some time in mastering the rudiments of critical thinking. 

One of the best ways to start is by getting back to basics. 

There are some people who tell it like it is: their insights are weapons that disperse smokescreens and expose the underlying dynamics of sick relationships. 

The following statements about obedience from Anna Valerious’s blog Narcissists Suck are good examples of what I mean:

A forced obedience is no obedience at all, but rather it is slavery.

A manipulated obedience is no obedience at all, but deception.

A purchased obedience is no obedience at all, but bribery.

An obedience rendered in fear of adverse consequences is no obedience at all, but self-preservation.

I found the above observations very true and very inspiring, so much so that I came up with some similar ones about the truth:

Believing something to be true does not make it true.

Wanting to believe that something is true does not make it true.

Desperately needing to believe that something is true does not make it true.

Loudly and/or repeatedly insisting that something is true does not make it true.

Avoiding, ridiculing, attacking, persecuting or destroying anyone who questions the truth of something does not make it true.

When these sets of observations make sense and we accept that they are correct, the victimiser’s evil spell will start to dissolve.